From a Trickle to a Stream: Achieving Major Bike Mode Shift

Sep 27, 2016

4:30 pm - 6:00 pm

Seattle, WA

Many cities are committed to dramatically increasing the amount of trips made by bike, and for good reason. Biking is one of the few modes of transportation that is carbon-neutral, beneficial physiologically, non-traffic-inducing, and highly equitable. But how do you get from a handful of committed riders to a critical mass?

Data shows us that cities that make serious commitments to bike infrastructure see greater increases in the number of people riding, and infrastructure that is comfortable for people of all ages and abilities will encourage even more people to ride. In this session, learn about NACTO’s Bikeway Contextual Guidance for planning bicycle facilities that are likely to provide a high level of comfort to bicycle users of all ages and abilities, and hear from three cities that are making major investments and seeing major returns in bike ridership.

Austin’s citywide analysis and network planning effort has demonstrated the bike ridership increase and overall street capacity gains that would be possible with an investment in bike infrastructure. Vancouver has seen a major shift to biking since it built out a downtown protected bike lane network, with the latest data showing that 7% of all trips citywide are made by bike. Through investments in its bike lane network and a dense bike share program, NYC has tripled the number of cycling trips taken since 2001 – to over 400,000 per day.